Mister Torgue’s Campaign Of Carnage review – pretty badass

Borderlands 2 gets its second major expansion, but will this new download be able to keep you playing in the face of the year’s other new shooters?

Mister Torgue’s Campaign Of Carnage (360) – presenting the Badassaurus Rex, to give it its Latin name

Gearbox is clearly a developer that understands its audience. They know how to make a great first person shooter but they also know how to keep people interested when it doesn’t involve fighting terrorists or wearing military fatigues. Borderlands 2 is in love with the concept of (and indeed the word) badassery – and nobody within the game’s already unhinged circle of characters is more badass than Mister Torgue.

Torgue, you might recall, is one of several weapons manufacturers in the game. It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to find that its founder comes across as a mix of the late Randy Savage, an evil Tony Stark, and the dudebro gamer stereotype that everyone likes to assume everyone else but them embodies.

He’s a wonderfully over-the-top character and pitch perfect for a slice of downloadable content that emphasis action over plot, and explosions over dialogue. The story revolves around another treasure vault having being found, but rather than a convoluted quest to reach it Torgue has organised a tournament to see who will have the honour of opening it.

This takes place in the Badass Crater of Badasstitude (actual name) and involves a series of arena-based battles that work essentially like a Horde-style survival mode. For long term Borderlands fans that will immediately bring to mind earlier downloadable expansion Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, but where that made the mistake of stripping most of the role-playing elements Mister Torgue still presents the action in the style of a normal story campaign.

That means you still earn experience and looting privileges for every kill and there’s some proper questing in between the mindless violence. For example, before you can even start proving your badass-ness you have to find a sponsor, which sees a welcome return for both the aforementioned Moxxi and everyone’s favourite psychotic teenage girl Tiny Tina.

Other side quests offer such highlights as trying to get a serial killer’s autograph and what may be our single favourite mission in video game history: assassinating a video games journalist who gave Mister Torgue’s favourite game a 6/10 review – and then killing all the rest when they suggest the stealth sections in another game aren’t up to snuff. It’s a brilliant bit of industry commentary that mocks not just the herd mentality of gaming fandom but even the abuse of the 10-point scoring scale.

Although the arena battles are the focus of the expansion everything is done to ensure they don’t become a slog, with a surprising amount of time spent out in the desert racing vehicles. But, rather unfairly, although the bad guys get new motorbikes to ride around in you have to make do with the game’s original vehicles.

If you do want to grind yourself some super loot then the final arena challenge is purposefully designed for level 50 players to play again and again, and even introduces a new currency called Torgue Tokens. Torgue Tokens can only be used in new Torgue vending machines, although we still found that a lot of our existing weapons were better than anything found in them.

Although the pros and cons are different it’s an extremely close call between this and Captain Scarlett And Her Pirate’s Booty, when deciding which of Borderlands 2’s expansion is the best so far. The simple answer is they’re both very good and although we’d probably give the nod to Mister Torgue it feels a little shorter at barely five hours and most of the new desert area is a bit dull to look at.

There are new enemies and bosses but they’re pretty similar to existing ones, both mechanically and visually. It’s also a little odd that the arena challenges aren’t spun out into their own stand-alone Horde mode. You’d imagine it wouldn’t have involved too much extra effort, but we’ll be generous and assume Gearbox preferred to leave that option alone – rather than doing anything half-hearted.

If they had it certainly would’ve stood out amongst the rest of the experience, in what is another great example of a download that not only understands its audience but also the appeal of the original game. The fact that that’s such a rarity may seem absurd, but the irony is that the outrageous Mister Torgue is one of the most sensible slices of downloadable content this year.

In Short: Another meaty chunk of downloadable content for Borderlands 2, with a great mix of play styles and some wonderfully OTT quests and characters.

Pros: A substantial storyline and an expansive new area to explore. Arena battles are a good change of pace. Mister Torgue is great, and so are most of the side quests.

Cons: New enemies and bosses aren’t much of a departure and new area is a bit bland visually. No separate survival mode seems a little odd, as does the lack of new vehicles.